Links

Verified Voting Vets E-Vote Vulnerabilites

On June 8, 2006, Verified Voting released a preliminary summary of states whose elections are at risk due to newly-revealed security vulnerabilities in Diebold voting systems, including the Diebold TSx, TS, and optical scan machines, as uncovered by computer expert Harri Hursti of Black Box Voting.

The summary, which is the first part of an ongoing Verified Voting effort to track voting equipment in use throughout the country from all vendors, was presented yesterday at a Capitol Hill briefing held by Verified Voting and the National Committee for Voting Integrity. The briefing provided technical information on the recently revealed Diebold vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities would allow substitution of false vote totals without any trace or the insertion of malicious software, using the smart card technology and design features integral to the machines.

“These security vulnerabilities are classic examples of why we worry about electronic voting,” said Verified Voting Founder David L. Dill, who is a Computer Science Professor at Stanford University. “There will be an endless series of security holes, and not just with Diebold equipment. Instead of trying to make perfectly secure systems, we need to plan for security problems, by ensuring that we can independently check the results of the machines. That’s what voter-verified paper records are all about.”